-Gentoo Linux can be installed using one of three stage tarball files.
-A stage file is a tarball (compressed archive) that contains a minimal
-environment.
+The Gentoo Installation CDs are bootable CDs which contain a
+self-sustained Gentoo environment. They allow you to boot Linux from the CD.
+During the boot process your hardware is detected and the appropriate drivers
+are loaded. They are maintained by Gentoo developers.

-

-

- A stage1 file contains nothing more than a compiler, Portage (Gentoo's
- software management system) and a couple of packages on which the compiler
- or Portage depends.
-

-

- A stage2 file contains a so-called bootstrapped system, a minimal
- environment from which one can start building all other necessary
- applications that make a Gentoo environment complete.
-

-

- A stage3 file contains a prebuilt minimal system which is almost fully
- deployable. It only lacks a few applications where you, the Gentoo user,
- needs to choose which one you want to install.
-

-

-

-To help you decide what stage file you want to use, we have written down the
-major advantages and disadvantages of each stage file.
+All Installation CDs allow you to boot, set up networking, initialize your
+partitions and start installing Gentoo from the Internet. We currently provide
+two Installation CDs which are equaly suitable to install Gentoo from, as long
+as you're planning on performing an Internet-based installation using the
+latest version of the available packages.

-
-
-
-A Stage1 Approach
-
-

-A stage1 is used when you want to bootstrap and build the entire system
-from scratch.
+If you wish to install Gentoo without a working Internet connection, please use
+the installation instructions described in the Gentoo 2006.0 Handbooks. This is currently not
+supported for the PPC64 architecture though.

-This approach builds core system packages that are vital to your system and is
-used by Gentoo developers to prepare the Gentoo release media. It is a great
-installation method for those who would like to learn more about the inner
-workings of bootstrapping, toolchains and the like.
+The two Installation CDs that we currently provide are:

+

+

+ The Gentoo Minimal Installation CD, a small, no-nonsense, bootable
+ CD which sole purpose is to boot the system, prepare the networking and
+ continue with the Gentoo installation.
+

+

+ The Gentoo Universal Installation CD, a bootable CD with the same
+ abilities as the Minimal Installation CD. Additionally, it contains
+ several stage3 tarballs (optimized for the individual subarchitectures).
+

+

+

-However, if you do not plan to tweak the bootstrapping instructions in the
-bootstrap.sh script written by the Gentoo developers, then a
-stage1 approach has no benefits for you.
+To help you decide which Installation CD you need, we have written down the
+major advantages and disadvantages of each Installation CD.

-

-

-

Stage1

-

Pros and Cons

-

-

-

+

-
- Allows you to have total control over the installation routine, bootstrap
- sequence, etc.
-
-

-

-

+

- Suitable for powerusers and developers who know what they are doing
-

-

-

-

-
- Takes a long time to finish the installation (it is the lengthiest approach)
-
-

-

-

-

-
- If you don't intend to tweak the settings, it is a waste of time
-
-

-

-

-

-
- Requires a working Internet connection during the installation
-
-

-

-
-A Stage2 Approach
+Gentoo's Minimal Installation CD

-A stage2 is used for building the entire system from a bootstrapped
-"semi-compiled" state.
-

-
-

-When you perform a stage2 installation approach, you will build all system
-packages (core packages, including toolchain) using your specific USE,
-CFLAGS and CXXFLAGS settings. Any package build will therefore be
-optimized to your preference.
-

-
-

-However, this installation takes some time and if you do not intend to change
-the CFLAGS and CXXFLAGS settings that we have defined as a "good
-default", using this approach only makes sense if your USE variable is
-sufficiently different from the default USE we provide.
+The Minimal Installation CD is called
+install-ppc64-minimal-2006.0.iso and takes up only 124 MB of
+diskspace. You can use this Installation CD to install Gentoo, but always with a
+working Internet connection only.

-

Stage2

+

Minimal Installation CD

Pros and Cons

+

- You don't need to bootstrap
-

-

-

+

- Faster than starting with stage1
-

-

-

+

- You can still tweak your settings
-

-

-

-

- It's still not the fastest way to install Gentoo
+ Smallest download

-

- Requires a working Internet connection during the installation
+ Contains no stage3 tarball, no Portage snapshot, no prebuilt packages and is
+ therefore not suitable for networkless installation

-A stage3 installation contains a basic Gentoo Linux system that has been
-built for you. You will only need to build a few packages (such as system
-logger, networking tools, ...) before you can boot into a base Gentoo
-installation.
-

-
-

-Choosing to go with a stage3 allows for the fastest install of Gentoo
-Linux, but also means that your base system will have the optimization
-settings that we chose for you (which to be honest, are good settings
-and were carefully chosen to enhance performance while maintaining
-stability). Stage3 is also required if you want to install Gentoo using
-prebuilt packages or without a network connection.
+The Universal Installation CD is called
+install-ppc64-universal-2006.0-32ul.iso and uses 460 MB. You can use
+this Installation CD to install Gentoo, and you can even use it to install
+Gentoo without a working internet connection, just in case you want to bring
+Gentoo to another PC than the one you are currently installing Gentoo on :)

-

Stage3

+

Universal Installation CD

Pros and Cons

+

- Fastest way to get a Gentoo base system
-

-

-

+

- You can still tweak your system
+ Contains everything you need. You can even install without a network
+ connection.

+

+

-

+ Huge download
+

-

-You might be interested to know that, if you decide to use different
-optimization settings after having installed Gentoo, you will be able to
-recompile your entire system with the new optimization settings. The same goes
-for any USE flag changes: Portage is intelligent enough to know what
-packages need to be rebuild.
-

-The Gentoo Installation CDs are bootable CDs which contain a
-self-sustained Gentoo environment. They allow you to boot Linux from the CD.
-During the boot process your hardware is detected and the appropriate drivers
-are loaded. They are maintained by Gentoo developers.
-

-
-

-All Installation CDs allow you to boot, set up networking, initialize your
-partitions and start installing Gentoo from the Internet. We currently provide
-two Installation CDs which are equaly suitable to install Gentoo from, as long
-as you're planning on performing an Internet-based installation using the
-latest version of the available packages.
-

-
-

-If you wish to install Gentoo without a working Internet connection, please use
-the installation instructions described in the Gentoo 2005.1 Handbooks. This is currently not
-supported for the PPC64 architecture though.
-

-
-

-For the PowerPC64 architecture, we only supply a Minimal Installation CD,
-a small, no-nonsense, bootable CD which sole purpose is to boot the system,
-prepare the networking and continue with the Gentoo installation.
+A stage3 tarball is an archive containing a minimal Gentoo environment, suitable
+to continue the Gentoo installation using the instructions in this manual.
+Previously, the Gentoo Handbook described the installation using one of three
+stage tarballs. While Gentoo still offers stage1 and stage2 tarballs, the
+official installation method uses the stage3 tarball. If you are interested in
+performing a Gentoo installation using a stage1 or stage2 tarball, please read
+the Gentoo FAQ on How do I Install Gentoo
+Using a Stage1 or Stage2 Tarball?

-
-Gentoo's Minimal Installation CD
-
-
-

-The Minimal Installation CD is called
-install-ppc64-g5-minimal-2005.1.iso or
-install-ppc64-ibm-minimal-2005.1.iso and takes up only 350 MB of
-diskspace. You can use this Installation CD to install Gentoo, but always with a
-working Internet connection only.
-

-
-

-

-

Minimal Installation CD

-

Pros and Cons

-

-

-

+

- Smallest download
-

-

-

+

-
- You can do a stage1, stage2 or stage3 by getting the stage tarball off the
- net
-
-

-

-

-

-
- Contains no stages, no Portage snapshot, no prebuilt packages and is
- therefore not suitable for networkless installation
-
-

-

-
-
-
@@ -353,21 +210,21 @@

-You can download any of the Installation CDs (and, if you want to, a Packages
+You can download any of the Installation CDs (and, if you want to, a Packages
CD as well) from one of our mirrors. The
-Installation CDs are located in the releases/ppc64/2005.1/installcd
-directory.
+Installation CDs are located in the
+releases/ppc/2006.0/ppc64/installcd directory.

-Inside that directory you'll find so-called ISO-files. Those are full CD images
+Inside that directory you'll find ISO-files. Those are full CD images
which you can write on a CD-R.

In case you wonder if your downloaded file is corrupted or not, you can
check its MD5 checksum and compare it with the MD5 checksum we provide (such as
-install-ppc64-g5-minimal-2005.1.iso.md5). You can check the MD5
+install-ppc64-minimal-2006.0.iso.DIGESTS). You can check the MD5
checksum with the md5sum tool under Linux/Unix or md5sum for Windows.

-For pSeries boxes, sometimes the cds might not autoboot. You might have
-to set up your cdrom as a bootable device in the multi-boot menu. (F1 at
-startup) The other option is to jump into OF and do it from there:
+The CD should autoboot on your pSeries box, but sometimes it does not. In that
+case, you have to set up your cdrom as a bootable device in the multi-boot
+menu. If you start your machine with a monitor and a keyboard attached, you can
+reach the multi-boot menu pressing the F1 key on startup. But if you start your
+machine using the serial console, then you have to press 1. Press the
+key when you see the beginning of the following line on the serial console:

+

+memory keyboard network scsi speaker
+

+

-1) Boot into OF (this is 8 from the serial cons or F8 from a graphics
-cons, start hitting the key when you see the keyboard mouse etc etc
-messages
-

-

-2) run the command 0> boot cdrom:1,yaboot
-

-

-3) stand back and enjoy!
+The other option is to jump into OpenFirmware and do it from there:

+
+

+ Boot into OpenFirmware: same procedure as getting into multi-boot
+ (described a few lines above), but use F8 and 8 instead of F1 and 1.
+

+

Run the command 0> boot cdrom:1,yaboot

+

Stand back and enjoy!

+
+
+
+If you get something like the following output, then OpenFirmware isn't set up
+correctly. Please use the multi-boot option described above.
+
+
+

+0 > boot cdrom:1,yaboot
+ ok
+0 >
+

+
@@ -659,11 +535,11 @@

If you want to view the documentation on the CD you can immediately run
-links2 to read it:
+links to read it: